Kongsberg Ready to Answer the US Navy OTH ASM Requirement for the LCS with "Bolt On" NSM

Kongsberg Ready to Answer the US Navy OTH ASM Requirement for the LCS with "Bolt On" NSM

Posted On
Monday, 20 April 2015 21:48

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Sea-Air-Space
2015 - Kongsberg NSM

Kongsberg Ready to Answer the US Navy OTH ASM Requirement for the LCS
with "Bolt On" NSM

At the Navy League’s 2015 Sea-Air-Space Exposition which was held
last week near Washington DC, Kongsberg was showcasing some new Freedom
class and Independence class LCS models fitted with eight Naval Strike
Missiles (NSM) each. These two models appear to be Kongsberg's "Bolt
On" solution to the US Navy new need for an Over The Horizon (OTH)
Anti-Ship Missile (ASM).

One
year ago during Sea
Air Space 2014, Kongsberg was already showcasing what we described
at the time as "armed to the teeth" LCS with over 18x launchers
each similar to those found on the Skjold
class corvettes of the Royal Norwegian Navy.

The "Bolt On" solution, while more conservative and simpler,
was recently validated with a live launch: "We proved it could
be done in less than 3 months" Hans Kongelf, Vice President
of Missile Systems at Kongsberg, told us during Sea Air Space 2015.
He was referring to the very short time the Kongsberg team needed to
fit an NSM system on board USS Coronado (LCS 4) and perform a successful
test with the US Navy in
September last year.

Asked
about the main strengths of the NSM, Hans Kongelf gave Navy Recognition
three key points:- Defense penetration capabilities thanks to its stealth, extremely
low sea-skimming flight profile and high G maneuvers.
- Target recognition: Each NSM is fitted with a library of ship profiles
to recognize each ship classes.
- NSM is available today, it is in production, fielded by the Royal Norwegian
Navy, the Polish Navy and selected by Royal Malaysian Navy (ed. note:
as
we recently reported)

NSM
model on Kongsberg booth at Sea Air Space 2015

Right
before Sea Air Space 2015, Raytheon and Kongsberg announced they formed
a teaming agreement for the NSM. The pact represents a second step in
the companies' efforts to offer world-class Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare
(OASuW) solutions to the many governments interested in this warfare mission.
Raytheon and Kongsberg formed a similar agreement last year to develop
the Joint Strike Missile, the air-launched version of the NSM.Link to NSM technical datasheet